Author archive
20 October 2009
Above: The newly prepared grave took over 2 years to carve out manually. Cliff graves at Suaya We started the day visiting Suaya which had a cliff-face filled with effigies similar to yesterday’s at Lemo. We learnt that the ones here are original whereas those at Lemo had been replaced after being pillaged. Text continues […]
20 October 2009
Above: Cryptic signs showing the availability of dog meat. Driving through the towns and countryside our guide and pointed out shops which sold dog meat. These are indicated rather discreetly by way of cryptic signs and codes, eg. “Ada” (meaning “Have” or “Available”) or red plastic bag hanging on a stick. I found the level […]
19 October 2009
Background Tana Toraja (or Toraja Land) is famous for the traditional burial ceremonies amongst its Christian population. When people die, they’re preserved (formerly using balsam but now with formalin) then kept at home for up to a few years while funds are accumulated for an elaborate ceremony or while relatives are brought together for the […]
18 October 2009
Above: Very spacious seating but the air-con wasn’t working properly. After a leisurely morning we departed Makassar on a bus journey to Rantepao. The scheduled departure was 1300 and the supposed journey time 8 hours. After a small delay due to air-con failure and a few other mechanical problems we arrived 11h15 later … at […]
17 October 2009
Above: Photos found on internet showing Lionair crew playing with the crash axe. Today we flew Lionair (not Ryanair) from the somewhat Christian city of Manado to the more Muslim city of Makassar (or Ujung Pandang) arriving at the beautiful new Sultan Hasanuddin airport. Now for some amusing facts, factoids or urban myths about Lionair: […]
16 October 2009
After our two dives today, we transferred to Novotel Grand Kawanua on the mainland. Kim’s work gets a large discount on its corporate plan … a beautiful room in a new gorgeous hotel with a big pool was NZD45 (about EUR22). It didn’t take long before we were in the rain shower washing off two […]
16 October 2009
Above: Going back through the mangroves after our dive. Today, we had two dives at Sachiko II which was another beautiful wall dive, much like yesterday with plenty of variety. Second dive was the House Reef. Even after Sipadan, I was excited to see turtles and barracudas. Sadly it was too early in our diving […]
15 October 2009
We had two days of diving with Living Colours in Bunaken. Today we had two dives at Aluang Banua and Lekuan II. The dive sites were all beautiful walls with plenty of variety in the marine life. Most importantly the divemasters were very professional … they gave good pre-dive briefings and always emphasised that this […]
15 October 2009
Above: Church and village on Bunaken island. It was bright when I opened my eyes. I looked at my phone-clock and it said 0611. But twenty minutes after, my alarm hadn’t sounded. Upon checking, I had misread the clock and it was in fact only 0511. As Manado and Bunaken is in the eastern end […]
14 October 2009
Above: Boats arrive through a clearing in the mangrove. After our errands in the city of Manado, it was time for us to go to Bunaken for a two night stay and two days of diving. We had hoped for a slightly longer stay but it wasn’t meant to be due to yesterday’s morning flight […]